Leeds United 0 Leicester City 1: Veteran Brown believes play-offs remain within reach for Leeds

Michael Brown will never join Collins, who passed away last week at 82, in the pantheon of Leeds legends but those who were there at Elland Road on Saturday to honour their former team-mate will have appreciated what he brought to a side embarrassed by an FA Cup exit to Rochdale and 6-0 drubbing at Sheffield Wednesday.

Brought in for his first start of the year just a week shy of his 37th birthday, Brown typified the determination running through the side not to capitulate to the Championship leaders.

However, it was Leicester’s newly signed golden oldie, 40-year-old Kevin Phillips, who had the important say as the Foxes made it six Championship wins on the run and consigned Leeds to a fifth successive defeat in all competitions.

Leicester striker David Nugent benefited from substitute Phillips’s excellent step-over dummy from defender Liam Moore’s cross and nipped home the 87th-minute winner beyond Paddy Kenny after forcing his way past Tom Lees.

It was a cruel blow for Leeds but Brown is adamant they should not be counted out of the play-off reckoning just yet.

Brown, who has battled away for five Premier League clubs along with Sheffield United in a career approaching 500 games, claimed: “I think if you look at the history of the play-offs in the last few seasons it’s been proven you can come late at any point with a run of victories so we are still in with a shot.

“This was a very different defeat to the last two. We were playing a very good Leicester team after having been beaten by six.

“In front of a decent crowd and live on Sky, we had to try and put ourselves in a better position to try and get a result and I think we did that.

“We had some great chances but it wasn’t to be and we got hit by a sucker-punch at the end. When you are at the top of the table you tend to know how to win games and that is why they are at the top.

“They sat in there because they didn’t have to win the game. They could just sit it out and take a draw but they have nicked it and that’s the disappointing thing because we were determined to get a clean sheet today.

“We were playing the top of the table and we gave them a good game, that’s for sure.”

Leeds, however, have not scored for three games and while manager Brian McDermott remains in talks which began on Friday with a transfer target – Luke Moore, Adam Le Fondre and Leroy Lita have been mentioned – it was a player he brought in from the cold who most impressed on Saturday.

Luke Varney proved the perfect foil for newly installed captain Ross McCormack as Leeds switched to 4-4-2, giving Leicester’s back four a torrid time and the partnership would have yielded goals in the first half had it not been for former United goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.

Brown enthused of his fellow recalled team-mate: “It was great to see him back. Varn ran his socks off, gave us another dimension running in behind and didn’t give them a minute’s rest and I was so pleased for him.”

The other two changes from the Hillsborough debacle were at full-backs with Sam Byram and Stephen Warnock getting the nod – the former quelling Lloyd Dyer’s threat and the latter giving Leeds another attacking dimension.

Perhaps the biggest disappointments for the fans were the displays of home debutants Jimmy Kebe and Cameron Stewart.

Kebe defied a back complaint to play but faded after the interval, while Stewart took until after the break to look menacing, cutting in from his flank to unleash a series of shots which Leicester either blocked or deflected for corners.

But of the quartet who were brought in, Brown continued: “We have a good bunch of players who are all ready to play and if the manager picks us then we look after ourselves and are ready to come straight in. It’s great to come in and work with them. We all get on and that’s a great thing. Sometimes you can not like people across the room but here we have a great dressing room.”

Of the threat posed by Leeds, especially in the first half as they attacked the Kop end, Schmeichel said: “They’ve got two very good strikers. Ross McCormack is one of the best strikers in this division and Luke Varney is very, very difficult to play against, so they gave us problems.

“We dealt with it well, though. Resilience is key for us in games like these and you need that bit of luck when things go wrong.

“They came at us in the first 20 minutes and we had to stand up to it. We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game – we expected a reaction after the results they’ve had – but we stood up strong and showed that ‘clinicalness’ that we have lacked in previous seasons. To nick a goal right at the end was brilliant.”

Leeds chief McDermott believes the Foxes are a blueprint for what is required to succeed at Championship level.

“If you look at last 10 years, teams who’ve got out of this league and won promotion from this league have been replicas of what Leicester are doing.

“They have got pace in wide areas, they’ve got strikers who can score, midfield players who can get on the ball and pass it, a solid back four and a decent goalkeeper. That’s what we’re trying to build here. The last 10 years do not lie.”

While stressing that the club’s priority must be the completion of the takeover, McDermott said he was pleased with the reaction from his players, adding: “The most important thing for me – obviously you want to win and I’m used to winning games, especially in this league – was to restore pride in the shirt. And I think the players did that.”